Jay Leno Dishes on His Late Night Feud With David Letterman: "David Is Odd — He's Just Awkward"

In a candid new interview, Jay Leno opened up about his ongoing feud with fellow late night host David Letterman. While recently speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Jay said their dislike for each other began when he earned the coveted Tonight Show gig over David when Johnny Carson retired from the program in 1992.

"Johnny was always very nice to me, but I think it's fairly well known that Johnny wanted Dave," the 67-year-old star said. "But Dave had a tough relationship with the network."

Jay (left) and David (right). (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

"Of course, somehow I got this moniker of being this horrible person," he added. Their conflicting personalities again came to light when David, 70, refused to help bid Jay farewell when the Tonight Show emcee retired in 2014. "You know, David is odd — he's just awkward. I just think it would have been really awkward for him [to come to the show]," Jay said.

"He said, 'Nah, I'm just not comfortable. That's your night. I don't wanna do it.' We may have talked over the phone. But he just was not comfortable with it. You know, anybody that knows Dave knows he's quirky... to me, it was always quirkiness; it was never meanness," he said.

When David similarly stepped down as Late Show host in 2015, Jay too stayed away from his rival's finale episode. "I said, 'Well, I kinda feel like Dave. You know, Dave didn't do mine and it worked out fine, so, I mean, I think it looks like I'm trying too hard,'" he said.

"[David] assumed one day he would get a call from [Johnny] or the head of NBC to offer him the [Tonight Show] job. It never happened," author Jason Zinoman wrote in excerpts obtained by People.

"Rick Ludwin, head of late-night programming at NBC, respected [David] as a great entertainer but was skeptical that he could draw the broad swath of viewers that made up the Tonight Show audience," Zinoman continued.

Jay (left) and David (right) in May 1992. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

"[Ludwin] also saw [him] as difficult to deal with. Whereas [Jay] was friendly and approachable, [David] was distant, even hostile," the author wrote.

"Everyone is born with an emotional thermostat," writer Steve Young told Zinoman. "You can nudge it up and down, but it will always revert to its natural setting. His was that he was never truly comfortable unless he was seething with unhappiness at something."

Check out the gallery to see more of Hollywood's biggest feuds!

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Sylvester Stallone vs. Richard Gere

The two starred in the 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush together, but because they got along terribly, Richard's part had to be recast.

"We never hit it off," Sylvester said in 2006. "He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table."

The two later got into an actual fight over — true story — chicken grease.

"I was eating a hotdog and [Richard] climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper," Sylvester said in the same interview. "I said, 'That thing is going to drip all over the place.' He said, 'Don’t worry about it.' I said, 'If it gets on my pants you’re gonna know about it.' He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh. I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car."

Today, the two still don't get along, with Sylvester even claiming that Richard accused him of starting the infamous gerbil rumor.

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Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford

No other Hollywood feud is quite as legendary as Bette and Joan's. Their feud was based on a variety of factors, from career competitiveness to even fighting over a man. The feud turned uglier when Bette was nominated for an Oscar over Joan for her performance in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

When they weren't fighting over Oscars, they were trading public insults with each other.

“Miss Davis was always partial to covering up her face in motion pictures. She called it ‘art.’ Others might call it camouflage — a cover-up for the absence of any real beauty," Joan had famously said.

And Bette had insults of her own, once saying that “[Joan] has slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie."

The feud lasted a lifetime, and even after their deaths, is still a much-heated topic.

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Faye Dunaway vs. Roman Polanski

While shooting a scene for 1974's Chinatown, Faye asked the director if she could use the bathroom. When he refused, she famously threw a cup of "liquid" in his face, and we're not talking about water! Roman was furious with her.

"[Faye] was very difficult," Roman said in 2013. "[Filming] nearly came to a halt."

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Shirley MacLaine vs. Debra Winger

The two didn't get along on the set of the 1983 film Terms of Endearment. At one point, the fighting got so bad, Shirley stormed off the set and had to be dragged back from the airport.

"I can't deny that we fought," Debra said in 1986. "We're not having lunch together today. We challenged ourselves, and when we got tired of challenging ourselves, we challenged each other."

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Kenny Baker vs. Anthony Daniels

What? R2D2 and C3PO don't get along?! In 2009, When Kenny, who played R2D2, was asked if he got along with Anthony, who played C3PO, he replied, "Not really."

"I thought it was just me he didn’t get on with but recently I’ve found out he doesn’t get on with anyone," Kenny said at the time. "I’ve asked him four times now [to come to conventions] but, the last time, he looked down his nose at me like I was a piece of s--t. He said: ‘I don’t do many of these conventions — go away little man.’ He really degraded me and made me feel small — for want of a better expression. He’s rude to everyone though, including the fans."

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Cybill Shepherd vs. Bruce Willis

The two Moonlighting co-stars fought both on and off camera, with Cybil reportedly calling Bruce a "jerk." However, Cybil has backtracked from her comments in recent interviews.

When Larry King asked her about her "jerk" comment in 2000, she replied, "When somebody gets to be famous, it's usually difficult to handle, and I did have to live through [Bruce's] first being famous. I mean, I'm sure I was pretty intolerable [too]."

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Woody Allen vs. Mia Farrow

The director-actress duo were the "it" couple of the 70s — that is until Woody began a relationship with Mia's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Later, in 2014, Mia accused Woody of molesting her daughter, Dylan, who would later pen an op-ed in the New York Times about her sexual abuse case against Woody.

Woody responded with an op-ed of his own where he accused Mia of planting lies in Dylan's head and lying to him about being Ronan Farrow's father.

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Bill Murray vs. Chevy Chase

While the two were working on Saturday Night Live together, Bill got into an explosive argument with Chevy that ended in a fist fight.

“It was really a Hollywood fight, a ‘Don’t touch my face!’ kind of thing,” Bill said in 2012. “Chevy is a big man, I’m not a small guy, and we were separated by my brother Brian [Doyle-Murray], who comes up to my chest... But Chevy and I are friends now. It’s all fine.”

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Sarah Jessica Parker vs. Kim Cattrall

Rumors have spread for years about the on-set rivalry between the Sex and the City co-stars. However, in 2016, Sarah said the feud was blown out of proportion.

“Was every day perfect? Were people always desperately, hopefully in love with each other?,” she said. “No — but this is a family of people who needed each other, relied upon each other and loved each other."

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Olivia de Havilland vs. Joan Fontaine

The two famous sisters were the Hollywood had the epitome of a sibling rivalry. In 1947, when Olivia won an Oscar, she refused to shake her sister's hand backstage.

Olivia, who celebrated her 100th birthday in July 2016, recently opened up about the feud.

“[Joan] was a brilliant person, very gifted and, alas, [had] an astigmatism in her perception of both people and situations, which could cause and did cause great distress in others,” she said. “I was among those and eventually this brought about an estrangement between us which did not change in the last years of her life.”

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Brooke Shields vs. Tom Cruise

In 2005, the two publicly sparred when Tom criticized the actress for supporting antidepressants. Brooke responded by saying that “Tom should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them." In 2016, Brooke revealed that Tom had apologized to her.